UPCOMING EVENTS

BioWare has announced that its sci-fi role-playing game Mass Effect: Andromeda will come out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 21 in the U.S. and on March 23 in Europe. The Mass Effect series has sold over 14 million units since the first game came out in 2007. This is publisher Electronic Arts’ first major release of 2017, and it will attempt to extend Mass Effect outside of the narrative and characters from the original trilogy. It’s something of a relaunch for the franchise, and its success (or lack of) could dictate the future the life of the brand.

This new entry is the first in the franchise since 2012’s Mass Effect 3. Andromeda is the first Mass Effect not to star Shepard, the commander that served as main character in the trilogy. Instead, Andromeda takes place in a new galaxy (hence the name) with new faces.

The new Mas Effect is also one of the most anticipated games of 2017, especially for the first half of the year. Outside of expansions for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic, Andromeda is BioWare’s first release since 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition.

BioWare first showed off Mass Effect: Andromeda on June, 2015 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. BioWare originally planned to release it in late 2016, but the game suffered a small delay.